After a large respite that began before winter break and lasted for over a month, the men’s and women’s track teams have finally started to find a little regularity in their schedule. Eastern hosted last weekend’s EIU Mega Meet and will also host this weekend’s EIU Quadrangular.

Last Saturday, both the men and the women put in good times despite the fact that neither team had run competitvely since Dec. 8. Nevertheless, the men were able to beat Illinois-Chicago in good fashion.

The Panthers were led by seniors Jeff Jonaitis and Kyle O’Brien in the long distance races. Both performed well for Eastern and head coach Tom Akers looks forward to what the team is capable of in the future.

“The team needed to get back into competition,” Akers said. “We were able to beat UIC fairly easily even though the team was sore and our long distance runners faired the best.”

Plans to make O’Brien even more versatile are in the works as he is training in the 5,000 meters in addition to his usual race, the 3,000 meter.

But above all, just putting the team back into motion and not just training is what the Panthers need the most. The team understands it needs to shake off the rust from more than a month off, and the team is happy to return to competition.

“It is hard to tell where we are at right now, but it is good to get back into a routine,” Akers said. “We might be a little thin right now, but as the season goes along we can see what areas we improve in.”

The same can be said for the women’s team, which has had the same lay-off as the men’s team. In its first meet since winter break, it was apparent the team was a little rusty because its times were down when compared to the first meet Dec. 8.

“Even though we trained on our own over the holidays, our times were not equivalant to our first meet,” said head coach Mary Wallace. “But it was good to get back into a regular routine and training schedule.”

Even though the times, overall, were a little worse, the Panthers still put forward some solid indivdual efforts with the two biggest sparks coming from freshmen Alicia Harris and Angie Simone. Harris took first in the 400 meter while Simone finished second in the 5,000 meter.

The Panthers are looking forward to their next meet Saturday, and they are ready to start preparing for this meet.

“The third meet of the season will be a perfect chance for us to shine,” said Wallace. “Mentally, we need to start preparing ourselves now in order to be our best out there.”